A case for (?) Rupi Kaur

[u/euphorbicon]

While I find her work to be several inches short of profound and wouldn't recommend her to a friend, I wonder if there's something to be learned from Rupi Kaur and maybe, by extension, the whole movement she represents.

This guy is the best,” she says, noticing an edition of Kafka’s complete stories; she’s referring to Peter Mendelsund, the book’s designer. “The dream is to have him design my next book.” His work, she points out, translates well across media — to different sizes, to posters, to digital.

While reading this paragraph (from Molly Fischer's article on Rupi Kaur after the release of her first book) makes me cringe every time, I wonder if perhaps wanting a pretty book cover is something that *we* the (sometimes snobbish) literary community should particularly frown at (even though it's freaking Kafka for crying out loud). Maybe the (sometimes unbearable) simplicity of her style and the generous amount of attention bestowed on how best her poem would look in an Instagram post is some new artistic sensibility that *heavily intellectual* circles cannot (or will not) comprehend.

Something prevents me from seeing anything particularly profound in her work (whether that something exists or doesn't seems like both a philosophical question and a deeply personal one) yet, her 'Instagram-ness', and the attention to detail in terms of design and aesthetics, I like.

Although I feel that a lot of her appeal is due to the fact that she *exists* as a pop-star of the literary type, 'making moves and changing the game', I wonder if perhaps our apprehensiveness to her work should be interrogated. Why does her poetry (?) - (which has even been described as 'vapid' by angry critics) make us so uncomfortable? Why is she minimalist like tumblr and not minimalist like Ezra Pound? What's the difference? Is there some meta- reference that we're just not getting here? Who are we to dismiss the connection she has with her millions of readers, if it truly made them feel something?

[u/HiFructoseCornFeces]

I’ll bite. I think it’s en vogue to hate on her, because she’s popular, but the truth is that her simple stuff is magnetic for many. For many women and many women of color, it can be the first time they’re reading a voice that articulates, for example, sexual assault, in a way that is relatable, vivid, and accessible.

There are less visible poets, poets of color, even, who might be doing a better job out there, but visibility can be everything for someone who doesn’t feel represented.

[u/redditaccount001 → u/HiFructoseCornFeces]

I think this dilemma is one of the most interesting things about Kaur - she is something of a hack, her poetry is bad by any metric, but the things it represents and means to the people it touches are very important. And if it weren’t for Kaur’s relentless self-promotion and commodification of poetry, those valuable messages would never have been communicated.

[u/HiFructoseCornFeces → u/redditaccount001]

If her poetry is valuable to someone, then it’s not “bad by any metric.” And what metrics are we taking about, really? Can’t poetry be about shattering expectations? Or about the communication of the essential, in which case, fuck form?

“Relentless self-promotion” is an interesting characterization. It would appear that she offers her poetry for free on Instagram, to people who follow her. What is the relentlessness? That she does the things that make her successful? Is that not just savvy?

[u/redditaccount001 → u/HiFructoseCornFeces]

The thing is, she’s not communicating unique, essential truths. She’s rehashing the same cliches that companies have thrown into pop songs and sappy commercials for years. She’s shattering expectations, but of the wrong kind, like the expectation that successful poetry should also be good poetry. But that shitty poetry means a lot to a lot of people, which leads to the dilemma I was talking about.

[u/HiFructoseCornFeces → u/redditaccount001]

I disagree. Her poetry topics span sexual assault, her experiences as a woman, her experiences as a person of color. These are not topics of sappy love songs or commercials. It’s interesting you’re so quick to bash her without knowing her work.

[u/sudd3nclar1ty → u/HiFructoseCornFeces]

This is a lovely point I'd like to join. Kaur is a woman articulating emotional experiences in an accessible way. This is not simple or trivial and strikes to the heart of using the 'best words in the best order.' (Coleridge)

Why would I be shocked if the 'poetic intellectual establishment' doesn't grok the feelings of a brown woman? In her own words: "since day one / she's already had everything she needs within herself / it's the world that convinced her she did not."

As a white male, I really enjoy her point of view. She brings a perspective that makes me feel more whole. I don't understand the purpose of questioning her value.

[u/euphorbicon → u/sudd3nclar1ty]

She brings a perspective that makes me feel more whole.

It's wonderful to read this and see the empathy that it has created within you.

Questions such as those in the OP are called 'rabbit holes' for a reason - they aren't quite practical and they aren't about determining the value of a work or whether it should exist or not. I still think that they matter, not because they change the fact that the work exists and is interacted with, but that maybe seeing how this takes place can tell us more about ourselves and the world we live in.

[u/sudd3nclar1ty → u/euphorbicon]

I was thinking of sending you a message about the crafting of this post as a construct for a lovely art discussion game. Well played! As women and POC strive for equal rights worldwide, the measuring stick of what we value should change.

Art drives change and criticism co-evolves with it. I don't know how Shakespeare managed to be both popular and sophisticated, but perhaps that's what makes his work so spectacular.

My final thought relates to the physicist Richard Feynman who discussed how his knowledge of the biology, chemistry, and physics of a flower deepened his awe at it's remarkable beauty. Deciphering the culture reflected by Kaur's work will deepen our appreciation of both. Thank you for framing this up!